Your Right to Know

A report comparing Columbus with 15 similar metro areas reveals a young, growing community that,
despite low unemployment and high college-enrollment rates, is also home to a large and
impoverished underclass.

Civic leaders said the data show that Columbus is making progress on economic indicators such as
median household income (No. 9) and adjusted per-capita income(No. 3).

But it still has a larger percentage of residents who live in poverty (No. 14), receive public
assistance (No. 13) and fare poorly on health measures such as obesity (No. 15).

“Clearly, we have work to do, and I think we are focusing on the right things,” said Douglas F.
Kridler, president and CEO of the Columbus Foundation. “We cannot turn away from the brutal truth
about health and poverty in our community.”

“Benchmarking Central Ohio 2013,” written by Community Research Partners with funding from the
Columbus Foundation and the Columbus Partnership, is the fifth in a series of reports that aims to
show how central Ohio ranks in areas of community and personal well-being.

The sponsoring organizations discussed the findings yesterday during a forum at the Columbus
Metropolitan Club.

“I think the value of such a report is not necessarily the report itself, but, hopefully, the
ongoing conversations that the information stimulates,” said Alex Fischer, who heads the Columbus
Partnership. “It’s an important exercise to always look at ourselves, to make sure we’re not
drinking our own bath water.”

Fischer said he’s pleased with the Columbus area’s economic gains but mindful of a widening
income gap between households in the 20th and 80th income percentiles.

“We are seeing at the lowest end of the scale an increasing divide,” he said. “The overwhelming
evidence would suggest that education’s got to be a big part of the answer.”

Lynnette Cook, executive director of Community Research Partners, said the community’s strong
population growth (No. 5) bodes well for the future. “People want to come here,” she said.

Commute times are relatively brief (No. 4), residents make lots of visits to the library (No. 2)
and the area ranked No. 1 for community festivals.

Bill LaFayette, owner of the economic-consulting group Regionomics, said he can’t understand why
Columbus’ relative youth — the median age is 35.4 — and education levels don’t lead to more
small-business startups.

The metro area was last for small businesses and No. 12 for small-business starts. Those
measures are considered key to economic vibrancy.

“It’s hard for me to believe that people in central Ohio are any less entrepreneurial than any
place else,” LaFayette said. “We certainly have the resources.”

Cook said the report can lead to important conversations about the links between many of the
measures. “Our economy is tied to our health and well-being in many direct and indirect ways,” she
said.